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Top 10: Strange Prizes

Piglets, ceremonial swords and giant sausages: ten of the weirdest prizes in bike racing, including our very own Tour of Britain cheese.

Sword, Vuelta a España
Vuelta stage winners, like Philippe Gilbert (above) in Toledo in 2010 receive one of these. Bet nobody argued with the Belgian over the first coffee on the team bus the next morning.

Top 10: Strange Prizes

Cuddly donkey, Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne
Word is that this is the ultimate prize for any racers with young children. But why an ass? Kuurne locals are known affectionately as ‘donkeys’ owing to their heavy use of donkey-pulled carts.

Top 10: Strange Prizes

Weight in beer, Newport Nocturne
Crafty or underweight riders usually get a podium girl on their laps when on the scales to add to the haul. Winter blowout round this guy’s house.
Photo: Larry Hickmott

Top 10: Strange Prizes

Cheese, Tour of Britain
Our beloved Rouleur Combativity cheese. Get in a breakaway and replace the calories afterwards in the space of ten minutes with a hunk of the day’s local dairy delight. It’s that or stink out the team bus all week.